Nick Snow
OGJ Washington Editor
WASHINGTON, DC, Apr. 25 – The US Department of Justice formed an oil and gas price fraud working group to monitor oil and gas markets for potential legal violations, US Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. announced.
“Rapidly rising gasoline prices are pinching the pockets of consumers across the country,” Holder said Apr. 21. “We will be vigilant in monitoring the oil and gas markets for any wrongdoing so that consumers can be confident they are not paying higher prices as a result of illegal activity.”
He said that the working group will include representatives from DOJ, the National Association of Attorneys General, the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the Federal Trade Commission, the US Department of the Treasury, the Federal Reserve Board, and the US Securities and Exchange Commission, as well as the US Departments of Agriculture and Energy.
Holder noted that US President Barack Obama asked him in March to work with federal and state agencies to monitor whether any oil and gas prices have been manipulated.
The new working group will look for any evidence of collusion, fraud, or misrepresentations that violate state or federal laws and harm consumers or the federal government.
Contact Nick Snow at [email protected]
File photo from PDVSA..
